Image-guided Neurologics, Inc.

Image-guided Drug Delivery Systems, Inc.

Image-guided Neurologies, Inc.

Raju R Viswanathan

Raghu Raghavan

Timothy Poston

An apparatus, system and method for calibrating a movable receiver coil with spatially varying signal reception profile in a magnetic resonance imaging environment is described. The method of the invention calibrates the movable receiver coil with spatially varying signal reception profile by dividing the receiver coil into parts and determining electromagnetic interactions of the parts in the environment. The method further includes (1) estimating orientation and position information corresponding to the receiver coil and (2) associating electromagnetic interaction data with records such as (a) responses of the receiver coil in various tissue environments to emissions caused by stimuli from external magnetic resonance coils, (b) high-resolution external receiver coil records of emissions from same environments, and (c) measurements of self-interactions and mutual interactions among the parts of the receiver coil.

Apparatus, system and method for calibrating magnetic resonance receiver coils

Microcoils can be used in medical devices to enhance RF response signals and to create fields to enhance imaging capability in MRI imaging systems. An improved microcoil design includes a device to be inserted into a patient comprising a solid body having at least one pair of radially opposed microcoils physically associated with the solid body, each microcoil having an outside microcoil diameter of 6 mm or less, individual windings of each microcoil together defining a geometric plane for each microcoil, and the plane of each microcoil being parallel to the plane of another microcoil in the pair of radially opposed microcoils.

Microcoil device with a forward field-of-view for large gain magnetic resonance imaging

A class of customizable injection devices or delivery instruments whose basic form is a stiff tube with holes of user-selectable size at several user-selectable places is described. The use of this device includes a method of selection and construction of a particular device from such a class of devices for a particular treatment procedure using computer-assisted means. Thus, the user may make selections among available or creatable choices (such as selection of hole size, selection of hole location, number of holes, etc.), and a method can be practiced for making such user-selection serve the goals of delivery of materials such as drugs, cells, or of devices sufficiently small and numerous to be delivered in fluid suspension. The tube should be relatively stiff in the sense that it deflects by no more than an amount between 0&deg; and 15&deg; under the stresses of insertion and placement at the end of a catheter, and varies less than 5 or less than 10% per cent in cross-sectional area when so deflected to the maximum of about 15 degrees.

Drug delivery and catheter systems, apparatus and processes

Microcoil designs are provided that enable unique RF response Field profiles that are particularly useful in MRI imaging procedures, particularly where fields of view outside of the medical device are desirable. These devices are particulatly for use within an organism, the device comprising an element having at least one RF receiver, the coils of said microcoils defining a cross-section that lies in a plane oriented at 0 to 90 (or 0 to 80) degrees to the longest axis of the device. Another way of describing the device is as a device for use in an organism, the device comprising an element having at least one wound microcoil with at least three windings on the microcoil. Each winding has an aspect ratio of greater than one. The aspect ratio of each winding is measured as the ratio of longest to shortest dimension in a cross section situated approximately transverse to the winding axis of the coil windings, the winding axis also being transverse to the longest axis of said device. Another way of describing the device for use within an organism is as a device comprising an element having at least one RF receiver microcoil, the coils of the microcoils defining a cross-sectional contour having an alignment value of at least 0.75 with the longest axis of the device. The coil windings of the microcoil may have the cross-section comprise a geometric shape, such as a curvilinear shape, a polygon (regular or irregular), or a polygon where comers on the polygon are softened (e.g., slighly rounded). The device may comprise a catheter having at least one lumen. At least one microcoil should be located with its longest dimension defining a longitudinal spatial extent (direction) parallel to the at least one lumen and the coils having a conductor thickness of greater than 0.01 mm and less than 2.4 mm.

Microcoil device for local wide field-of-view and large gain magnetic resonance imaging

Movement of material in an organism, such as a drug injected into a brain, is modeled by a uniformly structured field of static constants governing transport by moving fluid and diffusion within the fluid. This supports planning of material introduction, (e.g., infusion, perfusion, retroperfusion, injections, etc.) to achieve a desired distribution of the material, continuing real-time feedback as to whether imaged material is moving as planned and will be distributed as desired, and real-time plan modification to improve results.

Method and apparatus for targeting material delivery to tissue

A microcoil configuration, preferably on a medical device to be inserted into a patient, has an opposed pair of microcoils. At least one or each microcoil of the opposed pair of microcoils has at least a region where a diameter circumscribed by a first winding is greater than the diameter circumscribed by at least one complete second winding, especially an adjacent winding displaced from the first winding along an axis or core of the medical device or an axis of the microcoil. The second winding is nearer to or farther from an intermediate region between the microcoils that define the pair of microcoils. For example, it is common to have a connecting (usually straight or non-wound) lead between the two microcoils, and this lead may be used to define an intermediate region. The microcoil configuration with varying circumference between windings (especially adjacent windings) is generally referred to as a dumb-bell or horn configuration because of its general appearance and the individual microcoils are referred to as a horn microcoil, again because of the visual appearance of the microcoil. The configuration of the microcoils assists in defining the properties of an RF responsive field adjacent to the device.

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Towson, MD, United States of America

Raju R Viswanathan